If I wanted a smartphone for sailing or any "water" use I'd buy on the rare few that are waterproof, i.e. Motorola Deny, Samsung Rugby Pro, with the intention of using it as a phone. If I wanted a device to run apps, I'd by a 7" tablet with a bright screen and probably slap a waterproof housing on it. There are a few sold as water resistant but again not many. The extra screen size helps but they're still small enough to stick in a cargo pocket.

I believe the Apple devices still have the most apps available in general. I also like the seamless integration between my iPhone and iPad. Most of my apps work on both and I don't pay more for it.

Screen and device size are personal. For example, I don't want a large phone, even the 5S is becoming borderline to me. I want my phone to easily fit in a pocket and my hand. First and foremost, it's a phone to me.

Not many have extensive experience with many devices, including me. However, many insist that their choice is the best one. You'll just have to sort out the relative pros and cons.

p.s. As is often the case with software upgrades, ios7 seems to have been written for their new 5S/C device and works better and looks marginally better on it. It is clunky on the 4S, but all devices, including personal computers and tablets, suffer this fate eventually.

I've got a Samsung Galaxy phone which is I reckon pretty damn good. While I've never used it for chart plotting, simply having a basic GPS function is no bad thing if your plotter goes down, you are coastal and have paper charts. Not much use offshore but that's another story.

Recently added a Nexus 7 tablet. Primarily bought it for e books but it does provide a half way decent screen for charts. I've been playing around with Plan2Nav. Seems pretty useful.

I have a galaxy s3 and love it for sailing. I use SailFlow for realtime wind data, Radar Now for realtime doppler and weather/wind forcasts, U.S Tides for tide data, and Marine Navigator Lite (free version) which uses NOAA charts and your phones gps for navigation, speed above ground etc..

The S4 is out now, but is not really worth the extra $$ as it is almost the same exact phone and not much of an upgrade.

I would not "rely" on my phone as a primary tool, it is more or a convience for me. I am in the Puget Sound so the vast majority of my navigation is dead reckoning in waters I am farmilliar with, but it is sure nice having all these tools in my front pocket.

mine-
I would submit that any Apple device used on a boat, MUST be placed in a waterproof case. While this is a good idea for electronics on deck in general, it becomes mandatory for Apple products since Apple cleverly seals the battery inside and makes it relatively impossible for the user to remove the battery. Ensuring that if the phone gets wet, the user can do nothing to stop it from galvanic reactions destroying the phone internally.
First rule of a wet electronic gizmo: Pull all the batteries, immediately, to prevent them from chewing themselves up. By the time you get to a Geek Bar...it will be too late.

mine-
I would submit that any Apple device used on a boat, MUST be placed in a waterproof case. While this is a good idea for electronics on deck in general, it becomes mandatory for Apple products since Apple cleverly seals the battery inside and makes it relatively impossible for the user to remove the battery. Ensuring that if the phone gets wet, the user can do nothing to stop it from galvanic reactions destroying the phone internally.
First rule of a wet electronic gizmo: Pull all the batteries, immediately, to prevent them from chewing themselves up. By the time you get to a Geek Bar...it will be too late.

FWIW our family has had a couple of iPod touches (iphone without the phone bits) survive a round with a washing machine but I'd agree that it would be better to protect them.

This is an interesting discussion for me as I am in the same process of looking for a best smartphone/tablet to be used on a boat. If I am not mistaken the GPS feature works as part of the 4G/cellular connectivity, so I guess it won't work on the open where there is no cellular reception, am I right?

Any experiences with using boating apps on KindleFire, compatibility issues etc? I like the new HDX, it has a nice hi-res screen and it looks to be pretty fast as well.

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